I have talked about my relationship with Danvile before, but here is a brief recap.
I grew up in Danville, Illinois, the home of Chuckles (the candy), Hyster (lift forks), Lauhoff (the world’s largest grain elevator), Petersen Puritan (one of the world’s largest aerosol bottling plants, think deodorant sprays), a GM foundry in adjacent Tilton, and many other industries.
All of those industries but Hyster are gone or sold to other companies. Hyster remains but production of forklifts doesn’t. Lauhoff is now the Bunge corporation. Inquiring minds may be interested in the History of Chuckles, no longer made in Danville.
Dick Van Dyke, Jerry Van Dyke, Bobby Short, Gene Hackman, Irving Azoff, Hellen Morgan, are some of the celebrities that were born or raised in Danville.
The population of Danville was 44,000+ when I was in high school. It’s now 31,597 despite huge growth in area.
I graduated from Danville Schlarman, a Catholic high school, in 1971 and graduated from the University of Illinois in 1976. My goal was to escape the area, and I did.
Curiously, just today, I was labeled a “traitor” for this. I will return to that in a moments, but let’s get to the real story why towns like Danville are bankrupt.
Spotlight Pensions
WirePoints reports Illinois Mayors Have Little Control Over Pension Costs.
Ask Danville, Illinois, Mayor Scott Eisenhauer if he has any control over his police and fire pension mess and you’ll quickly see frustration set in. “Springfield makes all the rules but localities have to pay for them.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
